Similarly the main bad guy – a stereotypical French chef – sounds right at home in the heightened reality of the game. Sound is generally a strong point for the game – voice acting is great, with Octodad blubbering and his family all sounding appropriate (and delivering some of the more amusing lines with some great inflections). That said, the areas you’ll explore are generally filled to the brim with things to interact with so you’ll barely notice this (although it’s worth noting that some items have been removed from the Vita port, for example treadmills in the supermarket level, which is a bit of a shame). Items in the environment in general are quite chunky, which does make them easier to notice and grab as Octodad but feels low-effort and something that could’ve been improved upon (for example, a pane of glass may break into really large pieces compared to shattering into something smaller). There’s also a striking 2D ‘secret’ level later on that is aesthetically gorgeous and an interesting chance of pace. That’s not to say there aren’t areas where the game doesn’t shine – again, the ‘Deep Sea’ level with Stacy remains a visual treat with dark lighting and all sorts of interesting creatures floating around, making it a joy to wander around. But there’s a general lack of detail in the backgrounds of the areas you’ll visit, being painted with broad strokes rather than individual pieces of design. It does help that the camera generally moves from fixed angles, so you’re always viewing the scene the developers want you to see (you are allowed some limited camera control in spite of this). Similarly environments are rather blocky, with things like grass being repeated patches of green objects rather than being one continuous texture. Characters models go for a ‘3D cartoon’ aesthetic which again fits well with the rest of the title, but the actual models themselves could’ve done with a bit more to them – as they are, animations for some of the NPC’s are rather clunky and it feels like there’s a level of detail missing. The colour palette chosen is great – everything is bright and cheerful which does really fit with the tone of the game. Graphically, Octodad is serviceable but feels like it could’ve been better. Little moments like these are littered throughout the game giving it a real heart underneath all the farce. The characters clearly care for each other – a highlight for me was exploring the ‘Deep Sea’ level with Stacy, who upon spotting “those scientist men” her dad is afraid of, proceeds to distract them so he can slink past un-noticed. While the game’s brief length doesn’t allow for much in the way of character development, Octodad is filled with sweet moments which really makes the setup memorable. Of particular note for me was Octodad’s daughter Stacy, who alternated between strikingly naive and incredibly observant as the story progressed and was a really amusing character to interact with. Undoubtedly, though, the thing I enjoyed most about the game were the other members of Octodad’s family, all of whom had distinct personalities that were a joy to observe.
All of this helps nurture Octodad’s tone as a silly, farcical adventure which is something you rarely see in videogames these days. Seeing Octodad flopping around the environments is funny enough in itself, but coming across scientists who “know a fish when they see one” or hearing Octodad’s daughter tell him that she put her butterfly hair clips in the garden so they’d return to nature really made me chuckle. So while the world itself is standard and the base story is rather formulaic, the game chooses to inject comedy whenever possible which helps bring life to the whole experience. It gets the job done but does allow for the two most interesting elements of the game to shine, which are the humour and the characters. Story-wise, the game doesn’t offer anything particularly special – it involves Octodad trying to elude being discovered as an Octopus, in particular while being relentlessly pursued by a chef trying to catch and unmask him.
While this may seem like a fairly bland design choice upon first glance, it does have a reason – part of the charm of Octodad is seeing the absurd main character do every-day tasks in a normal setting, so things had to be kept more low-key. Octodad takes place in an exaggerated version of the real world, where our titular character lives with his wife and children in a typical suburban setting.
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